


A primary color

by Kittcatness



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dancing, Depression, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Torture, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kidnapping, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-10 08:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14733864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittcatness/pseuds/Kittcatness
Summary: Lance was perfect. He was confident, loud and outgoing. Or so most everyone thought. His secrets to his past are held close to his chest until he is kiddnaped by the galra empire. Only then does his true colors, the one color he loved so much, show. The team didn’t know enough, but will this new information on thier team mate comprise his relationships?





	1. The sound of laughter

Dull and boring. That what Keith was thinking about this meeting. It was his first time back with the team as a representative of the blade of marmora and he wished he was anywhere but here. On a stupid diplomacy meeting on a stupid planet. He let out a yawn only to be elbowed by Shiro. The icy glare he sent him forced him to fix his posture and actually pay attention.

“-once again i thank you so much for your appearance at this meeting. And I thank the appotholaid people for hosting! Now for a few words from the blade of marmora.” Allura finished before handing the microphone over to Krolia. It still felt weird to call her mom, so he would stick with Krolia.

As she began to speak, Kieth drifted off again. It felt weird being with the team again. It felt like coming home after being on vacation. He had no idea how much he missed Corran’s ludicrousness, or hunk’s cooking, or Shiro’s dad-ness, or even Lance’s bickering until he was back. It felt like he was home.

Home. What a foreign word to him. He never really had a home but he had seemed to make one with a group of people who were missing their homes.

His train of thought was broken by the sound of laughter. Everyone in the room turned to stare at the source.

It was a babies laugh, and it was caused by the one and only Lance McClain. Lance had a small appotholaid child in his lap and it looked as though lance was playing peekaboo with them. The child was laughing and clapping and overall happy. A woman began to stand up from the stage. Keith recognized her as the queen as she began towards the child. Lance made eye contact with the woman. She sat down. Lance made a shh gesture to the child and began to bounce him on his leg.  
As Keith watched the domestic scene, he couldn’t help but smile at it. He felt small butterflies in his stomach as he watched but he was quick to rid himself of them.

————

Lance was bored. He hated meetings, even though they were important. The princess was speaking about some boring nonsense, blah blah blah. It was all the same. As lance slouched in his chair he looked down the line of speakers. The queen of the planet they were on was paying close attention to the princess’s speach. Allura had told them before that the queen had just recently given birth. The lack of child in the queen’s arms sparked worry in lance. As an uncle and middle child he was always the go to baby sitter back at home. Many people have told him he was good with kids. Lance just thought he had good maternal instincts, even though his sister claimed it was impossible for a teenage boy to have maternal instincts.

Lance’s eyes frantically searched the meeting room for the missing child, only to find them on the floor looking at him. As he and the child made eye contact, the child began to craw towards him. Lance tried to not draw attention to himself as he smiled at the child. The meeting was long forgotten at this point, lance had more important things going on.

As soon as the child was close enough, lance picked them up. The child was fairly humanoid, but there were a few subtle differences such as the light pink-orange skin and the purple freckles that dotted the child’s face. As soon as the child was in his lap, they reached up to grab lance’s ears and pull on them. Lance tried hard to suppress his laugh. Lance began to play peekaboo with the child which made them erupt in laughter. At the noise everyone turned towards Lance, but he couldn’t care less. He only looked up when he noticed the queen begin to stand. Lance locked eyes with her as if to say ‘ive got this, don’t worry’. The queen sat down. Lance contenued to hold the child as he bounced them on his knee. The child reminded him a lot of his nephew. Lance was happy with the memories that came with the reminder, not so much with the homesickness. Lance found himself humming a song his mom used to sing to him. And soon the child was asleep in his arms.

Little did lance know, a certain Blade of marmora member was just about to explode at the sound of his soft humming.

———

At the end of the meeting, the queen rushed towards lance. Lance handed the child over to her.

“Thank you so much for holding him! Im surprised he didn’t cry, he isn’t much of a people person!” The queen said as she held her son in her arms. Lance smiled.

“Its no problem, it’s kinda in my job description to take care of people,” lance said while laughing. Keith noticed how he awkwardly placed his hand behind his head while the child was firmly grasping his other. Kieth couldn’t help but notice how at home Lance looked with the child in his arms. He had always thought lance would never be the kind to like children, he just seemed to hyper and immature to handle them. _But you learn new things every day_ , keith thought.

“Defender of the universe and good with kids! You must have the ladies falling over you!” The queen said and lance laughed awkwardly. _Not only the ladies_ part of Keith thought. Keith was quick to metaphorically punch that voice in the face. He didn’t have feelings for his team mate. No. Not happening.

“anyway, I wanted to tell you all that we will be hosting a ball to celebrate Voltron! Please come and feel free to bring some of your earth music along! It seems quite interesting!” The queen said turning to the group. With that the queen retreated to what Keith assumed was her bedroom.

“Well that meeting was absolutely splendid!” Corran yelled to the group. He got a few nods in agreement, mostly from allura and shiro.

“It definitely was for lance!” Hunk said elbowing his friend. Lance laughed.

“I just like little kids ok! I bet he was laughing because I’m super hilarious!” Lance said smirking and striking a heroic pose.

“Or he was laughing because of your goofy looking face,” pidge rebuts. Lance mockingly gasps at her statement. It was just like old times again. At lest it was for Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall! Updates happen every Tuesday! 
> 
> Feel free to come talk to me either in the comments or on instagram or Twitter 
> 
> Instagram: @stars_and_klance  
> Twitter: @dangernoodle_mc


	2. Young (stupid) love

Keith could fight and win against anything, or so he thought. He was now facing the one enemy that he wasn’t sure if he could win against: his feelings.

He debated on what to do. Should he try to ignore it and hope it would go away? A lot of him liked that option but the voice of reason told him that it was a stupid idea. Should he confront Lance? Hell no his brain screamed. That left him with one option: talk to shiro. He told himself that that wasn’t the only option, he could go hide in a hole and die. But that probably wasn’t a reasonable solution.

He was standing in front of the mirror, getting ready for the ball, and with one final deep breath, the former red Paladin left his room in search of shiro.

Somewhere else in the palace lance was getting ready. He was with allura, helping her get ready as well. The suit he was wearing was nice, yet not as bland as the penguin suits he was forced to wear on earth. The dark blue jacket was accented with midnight purple lace roses. And for a pop of color he wore a teal undershirt. He looked fabulous, according to allura anyway. The last time lance wore a suit was at his brothers wedding. The vivid picture of the pure joy on his brother’s face was a painful reminder of what he left behind. If he remembered correctly, he should have a new niece or nephew. A family member he may never get to meet. Some tears well up in his eyes but he is quick to wipe them away. He was helping the princess and he didn’t want her to see him cry. At the moment lance was braiding the princess hair.

Allura noticed the pain in lance’s eyes. She knew that look, she had worn it. It was a look of regret mixed with grief. She wondered what was going on in lance’s head. It suprised her how little she knew about her paladins. She knew lance some what because blue was always pushing her to talk with him, but he always seemed closed off some how. Lance was interesting. She disided to break the thick air in the room.

“Hey lance?” The princess asked  
“Yeah?” Lance responded, caught of guard by her voice.  
“Why were you taking care of the prince?”  
“Ah well I guess i was a bit homesick,” lance says. The princess raises her eyebrow as if to say ‘go on’.  
“Well at home i was the middle child. My eldest brother has kids of his own and i was always the go to baby sitter. I guess the little guy reminded me of my nephew.” Lance says humming fondly at the reminder. Allura also smiles.

“Your family seems like nice people,” allura says. Lance just hums. Allura seems to have another question on the tip of her tongue, but she swallows the thought. Lance didn’t need that right now.

———  
Keith ran into shiro before he found him. Like literally ran into him. Full speed anxious power-walking is not a good idea.

“Oh whoa! Hey Keith! you good?” Shiro says grasping Kieths shoulders.

“Shiro, im having a crisis,” Kieth exhales. Shiro grasps him firmly as if to say “i got you bro”.

“Whats the issue, man?”

“Lance...”

“What did he do now? Is he being annoying?”

“Annoyingly fucking handsome!” Kieth whisper shouts while blushing. Shiro takes a step back before smirking. Oh no.

“MY LITTLE BRO’S GOT A CRUSH!!!!!” Shiro yells while dancing around Kieth. And so help him god, Keith was about to rip his good arm off.

“Oh my god shiro! This is serious! Im having a crisis,” Kieth says. He wanted to craw in a hole and die; this was horrid. Shiro stops parading around him and instead decides to lead Kieth to an alcove to have a little man to man talk.

“Look, im going to give you advice. You’re not going to like it. Talk to him. I think you to getting together would be a good thing for you. Do what makes you happy.” Shiro says. _Why does he have to be like this, Ugh_ Kieth thinks.

“But what if he doesn’t like me back? What if I ruin the team dynamics because of my stupid crush not being reciprocated?” Kieth says, his anxiety getting the better of him.

“Then try flirting with him! Test the waters. At the ball, complement his suit, ask him to dance. If he shows no interest then don’t tell him. If he shows interest, tell him.” Shiro says. _Why is he always right,_ Kieth thinks while sulking of to some obscure part of the palace. The small amount of hopeless-romantic in him was screaming.

———

It was almost time for the party. Pidge had gone in before hand and hooked a phone up to the speakers. Lance wanted to know what she was playing but she only responded with “something good”. It was to vague for lance’s liking but pidge assured him that he would enjoy it. Hunk was busy in the kitchen. Somehow this planet had acquired earth plants and animals. Hunk basically cried when he realized that they had sugar. With both his friends distracted elsewhere, lance headed off in serch of his favorite space uncle.

On his walk down the hall a figure passes in front of him. It was Keith, but somehow this Keith was different. Determined, confident, stern, HOT. The dark purple-ish red suit complemented his face and his hair. If lance wasn’t head over heels before, he was definitely now. He had a crush on Kieth since forever, but he didn’t realize it until one of his weekly bonding sessions with Coran. Coran was rambling about his small amount of magical power, and how he could see love connections through what he called “Altean connection wavelengths”. He had decided to do it to lance, and he said,  
“Lance, my boy. The person you love you see as a rival. To me it seems as though you created the rivalry as a defense to your feelings.”  
Lance immediately connected the dots, and after some awkward passes in the castle he learned to accept his feelings about Keith.

Lance’s way of dealing with Kieth moments, such as the one he was currently in, was going to pidge or hunk. At the moment they weren’t an option. Coran didn’t understand human feelings that well so he was out, as well as allura. So that left one option: find space dad. Space dad gives good advice.

Lance bounded away from Keith, luckily he didn’t see him. Lance eventually found shiro in a stairwell.

“Yo! Shiro! I need some of your wise advice!” Lance yells sliding down the stair rail, only to crash into the wall with the momentum of his slide. After some awkward fumbling, shiro responed.

“Go ahead lance.”

“So, lets say i have this friend. And this friend has a crush on someone they’re close to. And they didn’t know how to deal with feelings so the created a stupid rivalry but now they are suffering because thier crush hates them but is still really cute. What should this friend do,” lance says trying to cover the blush on his face. Shiro starts cackling. Lance lets out an annoyed sigh.

“This is serious!” Lance says.

“Ok, ok. First of all, lance I know you are talking about your self here, im not dumb. Second of all i know for fact that this ‘crush’ doesn’t hate you. You should try to flirt with them during the ball,” shiro responds.

“Yes! Flirting is what i do best. Thanks shiro!” Lance says before zooming off somewhere. Shiro laughs softly to himself.  
“Ah young love,” he says with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy yall im back with another chapter! See yall next Tuesday!


	3. The ball

It was time for the ball. The Paladins were about to be introduced. Keith had already gone in with the blade, and he was low key trying to not show his excitement about seeing lance in a suit. Corran was introducing everyone, because he was, well, he was just corran and thats what he did best. Corran cleared his throat and began.

“Presenting, princess Allura of Altea!” The crowd clapped and watched as the princess walked down the staircase in her elegant gown, but it was her hair that gained the attention. People around him whispered about who did he hair and how they did it so well, but Keith only smiled. Lance really had stepped up on this hair do.

“Introducing, Shiro, the black Paladin.” Corran called. After shiro’s intoduction, Kieth stopped paying attention, choosing to chatt with shiro instead. This went on until Kieth’s attention was pulled back to corran, or rather the person he was introducing.

“And finally, Lance McClain, the red Paladin,” corran finished. Lance stood at the top of the steps, looking so effortlessly handsome. The blue suit complemented every aspect of him. Kieth thought he was going to faint.

“Shiro, kill me,” Kieth says, still starring at Lance as he descends the stairs.

“No! Why would i kill you— Oh.” Shiro says connecting the dots. Shiro giggles a bit before gesturing to lance to come over. Kieth was going to kill him. 

“Hey Shiro! Hey Kieth, nice suit!” Lance says. Kieth blushes.

“Uh, thanks. Nice suit to you too,” Kieth says. Lance smirks.

“Thanks! Do you know what its made out of?” Lance says.

“...no” Kieth replies, confused. Shiro is very obviously trying not to laugh. Lance breathes before shooting finger guns at Kieth.

“Boyfriend material,” Lance says. Kieth erupts in laughter. Lance thought it was adorable. Between giggles Kieth breathes out, “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I take offense to that. Its my best line Man!” Lance exclaims. Kieth continues to laugh. Lance really liked Kieth’s laugh. It was scarce, but lovely.

“And you used you best line on me?” Kieth says. Lance secretly prays for some miracle to stop him from exploding. Turns out that miracle was named pidge. 

The young Paladin was standing on some sort of tech station with a microphone in her hand. 

“Hello all! I know we are all here at this ball but what is a ball without music? Here are some earth tunes provided to me from lance’s phone!”

“You’re the one that stole my phone?” Lance yells.

Pidge laughs, “Yeah i did. If anyone wants to learn some traditional earth dance moves, please direct your attention to Lance.” Pidge says before turning on the music. The first beats of the song ring out and by god, if pidge wants him to dance he will dance.  
———  
Lance stood in front of the group. The people of this planet were well known for their thirst for diversity. They were extremely interested in gathering different cultural experiences, such as dance. They wished to learn about earth, so lance was prepared to show them. Lance looked in his element as the song began. A song Kieth distantly recognized, but couldn’t name. The heavy drums rang out and lance began to move.

The song was in Spanish, as were most the songs on lance’s playlist. It was familiar, la la la by Shakira. He frequently played his music as a reminder of home, he also danced. Every time he danced it was like he was back home with his sister in the rec center. Everyone knows the best dance offs went down in the rec center.

“So the first thing you to need to know is that earth dance is all in the hips,” lance says. He rolls his hips as an example, ultimately landing with his hip jutted out to his right with his arms above his head. The aliens fallowed his example.

“Look at music like water and let it push you wherever it wants. Just watch,” lance says before beginning to dance. Kieth saw the tension leave lance’s shoulders as he eased into the grove of the music.

Lance was the original Paladin of the blue lion, the spirit of water. This was obvious as he danced with a high speed grace that left Kieth reeling. His dance was electric. Every move was perfectly timed and precise. It reminded Kieth of his shooting. It was captivating watching him. Kieth was convinced he was going to die, right here on the spot. 

After one dance move, which was basically just straight up tweaking, lance made the mistake of looking at Kieth. He found him starring directly at him, with an expression of pure awe. Lance couldn’t help but blush. As the song ended, he found that everyone was enjoying the dance. Lance couldn’t have been happier with his success. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. As he stopped dancing he found himself surrounded by allura and corran.

“Wow! My boy! Those dance moves were simply extravagant!” Corran said to lance. He simply smiled in return.

“Lance I have never seen such dance moves! Where did you learn them!” Allura says exitedly. By now Kieth and shiro had joined the group. Shiro wore a face of pride that was foreign to lance, while Kieth looked as though he had been hit by a bus. And in terms of feelings, he had. 

“I used to do dance back home when things got to chaotic. My sister and i were absolutely unstoppable on the dance floor,” lance said. His voice caught on the last part, his brain catching on to what his mouth was saying. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him, and it didn’t go undetected.

“Lance, are you ok,” shiro asked. Lance noticed the tear forming in his eyes.

“Im good, totally fine. I just need a second, all that dancing really got to me,” lance breathes out before bolting away. The group he left behind shares a look before shiro turns to Kieth. 

“Go after him,” shiro says as Kieth bolts after lance. The princess was staring a hole in shiro’s head.

“Shiro, what the quiznak are you thinking. Those two hate each other!” Allura says. 

“Princess, I believe shiro knows what I noticed long ago. Remember the Altean connection wavelengths?” Corran provides. Allura nods before making the connection.

“Oh. Well I guess the red and blue Paladins did always seem to get along in the past so I guess that is still true now, even though the lions have switched,” allura says. shiro smiles, he hoped the same was true today.

Meanwhile Kieth had caught up to lance. They were on the other side of the ballroom, and lance looked like he was going to cry. Saddness was not a good look on lance.

“Hey hey lance calm down. Are you good?” Kieth asked.

“No no im fine don’t worry,” lance says. Kieth fixes a glare on him as if to say ‘don’t lie to me’. Lance sighs.

“Im just homesick, thats all. I miss earth, i miss my family Kieth,” lance says. Lance never thought he would be this open to Kieth, but the look in the shorter boy’s eyes made him want to be honest.

“Tell me about them.” Kieth says. Wow, that’s wired lance thought but he obliged.

“Well i have two older brothers and a younger sister. Marco, my oldest brother, is chill, he has a kid, well two kids now.” Lance says. Kieth blinked and realized how much lance must have missed. He honestly had no idea what it felt like to know that you missed such an important event. It must really suck.

“And then luis is out in the military. He only joined because he wanted to get some bad stuff out of his record. Dude him and I used to be wild, parting till midnight, oh those where the days. And then my little sister, Veronica . Wow she must be 14 by now. I wonder if she made it in to the garrison. She actually reminds me of you, she’s hot headed. Likes to shoot first and ask questions later.” Lance says with a laugh. Kieth elbows him in the side, causing lance to laugh harder. It wasn’t long until Kieth was laughing to. Lance was like that. He had infectious laughter. That was a trait that Kieth really liked him for. Although liking lance was a fairly new realization, Kieth was strangely ok with it now. 

Lance loved Kieth’s laugh. It was just a beautiful thing. With how things were going, Lance wanted to do the unthinkable. He wanted to ask Kieth out. With the subtle flirting throughout the night, and this current ‘bonding moment’ they were having, lance wanted to so bad. The only thing holding him back his his crippling low self worth and absolute terror. So you know, everything. 

The boys’ giggling was soon crushed by the sound of an explosion from the window behind them. Lance spun around and looked for the source, his bayard drawn. From the dust of the explosion, a man stepped forward.

Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao brace yourselfs it’s about to get real...


	4. Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The angst really starts up here yall so... yeah. See y’all next Tuesday. Also this is the last chapter before the new season comes out, but i will continue with this story regardless of what the new cannon is.

Pidge was hanging with Hunk when she heard the explosion. She instantly rushed towards the source with hunk in tow. The run was greatly slowed by the amount of people rushing towards the exits. By the time she saw who it was, the entire team had gathered in front of him.

Due to it being a ball, none of them had brought weapons, except for lance, shiro, and Kieth. All three of them stood ready. Kieth with his knife in his hands, shrio with his hand already glowing, and lance with his gun pointed directly at the center of Lotor’s forehead. Lotor cleared his throat.

“Sorry for coming in through the window, dreadful etiquette i know,” He said. To think that he was once trusted by them. In no time after his capture, he was back with his gang of goons, but now he had all of the empire under his control.

“What do you want, Lotowhore?” Lance says to him, causing a small chuckle from hunk and a silent laugh from the others. Lotor seemed to think for a moment before he spoke.

“Well, I want...you,” he said pointing directly at lance. In what seemed like milliseconds, Lotor’s goons had swooped in and were attacking. In the chaos and shock of Lotor’s statement, they were unprepared.

Only moments later the fighting stopped at the sound of a shocked yelp. The group turned towards the sound, only to find lance grasped in Lotor’s arms with a blaster pointed at his temple. The group froze at the sight. A fresh kind of fury burned in Kieths veins.

“I would suggest that you stop struggling, unless you want to get killed,” Lotor said to lance. Lance turned and spat in his eye. If Kieth wasn’t so angry, he would have laughed. Unluckily for lance, his act of defiance earned him a shock to the neck. All lance felt was a white hot pain and then nothing.

Seeing lance crumple in Lotor’s arms was an extremely disturbing sight. Kieth almost ran at Lotor, but shiro stopped him. Kieth wanted to yell at him, until he saw the unfiltered rage in his eyes. Shiro was just as angry as Kieth was.

“Well Paladins, im going to be taking my prize now. If you want him to remain alive, I would suggest that you don’t fallow me.” Lotor said before exiting through the window he came from and jumping into his ship. His generals fallowed after him with their weapons trained on the group. As soon as the doors closed on the ship, the paladins were gone, sprinting towards their ships with a mixture of urgency and anger. As pidge reached her lion she noticed the absence of both the red and blue lions.   
———  
They were too late. Lotor’s ship was gone. Not even the unpiloted red lion could catch it. Lance was gone. As hunk landed on the deck, a somber mood filled the air. Within moments of reaching the ground he was crying his eyes out. His best friend was gone, and he did nothing to stop it. He did nothing, and now his best friend, the man who was with him through his lowest points, the man who saved his life more than once, the man who somehow kept him alive through his jokes during this war and tried everything he baked, was going to be hurt by Lotor’s army. That thought made his stomach hit the ground. Lance was most likely going to be abused and tortured by Lotor’s army. Hunk was past the point of crying, he instead turned and threw up everything in his stomach. A fantom idea of lance patting his back as he got sick and whispering words of encouragement made hunk even more sick. The absolute silence around him bit at him like a rabid dog. Hunk was absolutely lost with the sound of lance’s voice cracking jokes or asking questions. Fury filled Hunk. Hunk was never the type of person to hate someone, he was a lover, not a fighter. But for the first time in his life, hunk experienced hate.

Hunk HATED Lotor.  
———  
As pidge landed, nothing felt real. It was like all feelings had left her body. She was vaguely aware of the tears on her face. And as she came to, the feeling washed over her. She did nothing. Lance was gone and she hadn’t stopped it. She hadn’t been fast enough. She hadn’t thought up a plan. She wasn’t smart enough. Now lance, the boy who had taken her in when she was missing her family, the boy who acted as replacement big brother who ended up being as important as the real thing, the boy who was there for her and forced her to eat and sleep when she worked too much, was gone. He was in the hands of a insane man with crazy amounts of power. The last time pidge cried, it was because she had lost her brother. Now, after finally finding that brother, she had lost yet another, and she cried so much that she was convinced that she would drown in the cockpit of her lion.

Somehow she found the strength to exit her lion. She found lance’s phone on the ground outside of it. She carefully picked up the phone and looked at the lock screen. It was a photo of the whole group smiling. The photo was steadily getting blurry with the tears in her eyes. And with a grit of her teeth, she stood up straight with her feet planted firm and with the passion and fury of 10,000 men she declared:

“I saved one brother, and there is no way in a thousand hells im not saving another.”

———

Kieth and Allura felt hopeless. Allura went to jump into the fight only to find her lion missing. Kieth also had no way to fight, so instead they stood in the background anxious for news of their friend. Kieth was buzzing. Anger rushed through him and he was ready to break something, anything, but he held himself back. Allura was completely silent and still. She was watching the blue lion through the window, and all she could feel was anguish. The lion was roaring, crying out to lance. Allura knew that she was a replacement for lance in the blue lion, but she never realized how much the lion cared for the teen. Suddenly, the noise from the lion was deafening. She fell over from the pain the lion was causing in her head. She could also see Kieth collapsing from the pain as well. Soon after the lions cried, shiro’s voice came over the coms.

“W-We lost him,” shiro said. Kieth’s fist flew into the vase next to him. Tears were streaming down his face. He found himself fighting against arms. Allura’s arms. She was crying as well. Kieth was yelling.

“No No No No No!” Kieth yelled struggling against allura’s hold. She was crying hard now. She collapsed, no longer able to deal with her grief.

“Kieth stop. Please stop Kieth,” she cried out as her and Kieth fell to the ground. Kieth was still crying, but he had stopped struggling against her. Kieth was crying hard, but somehow through the tears he whispered to her.

“Allura, i love him. I can’t lose him. I can’t,” Kieth said, gripping his head in his hands. Kieth had finally admitted to himself that he loved lance, what convenient timing. Allura cried and held the boy tighter. She was grief stricken. She had lost everyone she loved before, and now it was happening again. Her and lance were close. They shared similar personalities, loud, strong willed, and protective. Despite how often she yelled at him for his flirting, she secretly enjoyed it. It was playful and fun and they both knew he didn’t mean it. Lance brightened her up on her worst days. He helped her with her hair. He taught her about earth. Lance was really important to her, a true friend. But now he was gone, in the hands of the people that killed everyone she loved.

Kieth felt similar. Everyone who Kieth loved left him in some way. First it was his mom and dad, then shiro, and shiro again. Now lance was gone and Kieth didn’t know how to feel. These feelings were foreign to him. Lance meant more to him than he had let on. Lance was his right hand man. Lance was the only person that could calm him down when he got angry. Lance was one of the few people who he actually trusted. Lance was important to him, and he had let him get taken. He could have done something. He could’ve fought lotor. He could have protected lance better. He could’ve done so many things yet he didn’t. He did nothing. Tears fell faster down his face. He distantly heard the lions landing in the hangar, but he didn’t care. The slience that came with the lions landing was unnerving. Part of his brain told him, “He’ll jump out at any second! He’ll be yelling and laughing with hunk and all will be ok. This is all a bad dream.” But Kieth knew better. He knew that lance wouldn’t be there, but that realization was to much. He needed to get out of there.

Kieth stepped out of allura’s grasp and ran. He did know where, but he needed to run.

———  
Shiro was terrified. He watched as the ship disappeared from his view. He had to tell the group lance was gone, but his voice was betraying him. Every time he tried to speak, his voice dissipated. Finally he said those words.

“W-We lost him,” shiro said into the coms. His voice didn’t sound like his own. He was terrified. Shiro knew first hand what the Galra were capable of. He knew what kind of horridness they put prisoners through. He knew to well. Suddenly a terrible thought reached shiro. When he was captured, he was a nobody. He was just like everyone else, he had no importance to the empire. Lance on the other hand is a paladin of Voltron, part of the empires greatest enemy. What ever shiro faced, lance would experience, but worse. Shiro was shaking in the seat of his lion. The memories of what he had gone through were attacking him. He kept thinking of lance, the boy with the huge smile. The boy who always cracked jokes. The boy who would always sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Shiro knew, lance was the heart of Voltron. Without him, the team would fall apart.

For the first time in 10 years, Shiro cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y’all catch the heathers reference?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNING 
> 
> mention of eating disorder   
> Anxiety   
> Torture 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! See ya next Tuesday!

Lance woke up disoriented with a horrible headache. For a moment he thought he was back on earth and had gotten drunk with luis and his friends again. Lance quickly realized this was not the case. He wasn’t on earth, he was in space fighting an intergalactic war against an empire ruled by a malevolent ruler. A malevolent ruler who had taken him captive. Lance jumped at that memory and began to scan the room for answers. His hands were cuffed together behind him, fantastic. The room was cramped and barren, only enough room for him and a space to eat. The walls were black, accented with glowing purple. The color made him sick to his stomach. There wasn’t anything that lance could use as a weapon. He was completely defenseless. His attention was drawn from his cell to the cell door. Lotor was standing there.

“Well well well, it looks as though our paladin has finally awoken. Aren’t you exited for the fun we are going to have...” Lotor says in a monotone voice. Lance rolls his eyes to give the illusion that he didn’t care, but inside he was terrified.

“Im super excited prince l’Oréal,” lance spits out like venom. Lotor smiles before walking up to lance and grabbing his face in his hands. Lance tried to jerk away but he couldn’t, lotor’s grip was too strong.

“You know ive always liked boys who put up a fight, its fun to break them,” lotor whispers into lances ear. He then punches him hard in the gut. Lance doubles over. Lotor smiles and begins to leave, until lance’s voice catches his ear.

“You cant break what’s already been broken,” lance says in a smug voice. Lotor closes the door. He promptly pulls up a screen from his wrist monitor. He saves the video of his and lance’s talk. He then sends it to a scrambler which makes the video untraceable. Voltron’s going to love this lotor thinks before leaving the doorway of the cell.

———  
It had been 4 hours since lance had been taken. Pidge hadn’t stopped working. The group was collected in the common room of the castle, anxiously trying to come up with a plan. Pidge was nowhere. She had nothing to work with. With a distressed grunt she slammed the computer shut, startlingly everyone.

“Ive got absolutely nothing. Oh my god i hate this,” pidge cried out. In a moments notice, shiro was patting her on the back.

“Pidge don’t put too much pressure on yourself, we all hate this trust me. We should all take a break actually.” Shiro says. Why does he always have to be right, pidge thinks before jumping out of her chair. Hunk moves towards the kitchen, probably to stress bake. Kieth sulked behind shiro and pidge. Pidge knew why Kieth was sulking so bad, he was crushing hard on lance. It was obvious. Pidge almost laughed at the irony of lance and Kieth both liking each other but being completely oblivious to each others feelings. Instead of laughing, pidge shed a tear. She had probably cried more in the last hour than she had ever. This was all too much. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of coran yelling in the speaker system.

“Paladins! Come to the bridge immediately! We have received a video from the Galra!” Coran yelled. Within moments the paladins were running to the bridge of the castle. Pidge skidded to a stop right behind Kieth. They were all stareing at coran with urgency and a small bit of hope. Seeing that everyone was present, allura began the video. The video was obviously shot through a security camera in a cell. Lance’s cell.

“Hey guys! Its lance!” Hunk said only to be shushed by the group. Lance was struggling against the chains that locked him to the wall, only to huff a sigh of defeat when he realized that he couldn’t break them. The door to the cell opened revealing lotor. 

“Well well well, it looks as though our paladin has finally awoken. Aren’t you exited for the fun we are going to have...” Lotor says. Pidge grits her teeth in anger. Lotor made her angry.

“Im super excited prince l’Oréal,” lance spits out like venom. Pidge had never seen lance look so mad. The look on his face was completely unnatural looking. She could tell that the others were also disturbed by lance’s changes in demeanor. 

Pidge saw Lotor smile before walking up to lance and grabbing his face in his hands. Lance tried to jerk away but he couldn’t. Pidge could feel the whole team biting thier lips so they wouldn’t yell. Kieth looked ready to actually fight the screen.

“You know ive always liked boys who put up a fight, its fun to break them,” lotor whispers into lances ear. He then punches him hard in the gut. Lance doubles over. Allura lets out a gasp and hunk starts to cry. Kieth looked even more angry that before. Lotor smiles and begins to leave, and the team lets out a sigh of relief. Thier relief is ruined at the sound of lances voice.

“You cant break what’s already been broken,” lance says in a way that was ment to be smug, but it came off more honest. Pidge could hear her heart brake at lance’s statement. What did he mean? Was he ok? What broke lance? She was answered by hunk, crying his eyes out.

“Oh god lance. I thought you were ok, oh my god lance im so sorry,” hunk cries, leaving the team more confused than before. Pidge and allura make their way over to hunk, patting him on the back and trying to get him to stop crying. 

Once hunk calmed down, shiro walked up to him.

“Hunk, do you know what lance meant by that?” Shiro asks. Hunk nods while still crying. He starts to move away from the group.

“Ill tell you about it, but you’re going to want to get conformable first, its a long story.” Hunk says before he and the group head towards the common room. Pidge didn’t know lance’s story, but from the look on hunk’s face, she knew that it was a rough one. 

———

Lance was bored out of his mind. It had been about 5 hours since lotor left, from lance’s estimation. Some guards had come by and thrown food at him, but lance refused to eat it. He didn’t trust the food to not be drugged. The growling in his stomach begged him to eat but he refused. He knew he needed to eat, but he wouldn’t. He was taken captive on a ship, there was nothing he could control, except for what he ate. Lance let out a sigh before leaning back and starring at the wall of his cell, he had been doing this for hours. 

Lance was jostled from his thoughts by the sound of the door. Lotor stood in his cell, he quietly looked at the food in the corner of the room, then back to the paladin in front of him.

“What do you want legolas?” Lance says. He was running out of names to call him.

“You know that I don’t know what that is right?” Lotor says. Lance just shrugs. He actually gave 0 fucks about lotor at this moment. 

“Well anyway, i came in here to talk to you. Why are you not eating?” Lotor asks. Lance doesn’t want to answer his questions, but what harm can it do.

“I don’t feel like it,” lance answers. Its a half truth, but still an answer. Lotor hums.

“Really? I thought it was because you want something you can control.” Lotor offers. Lance’s breath hitches but lotor continues.

“If you want control, we can give you it. We will let you go if you just give us some information.” lotor says. Lance glares.

“I will never give you information,” lance says. Lotor’s fake smile drops.

“Its not like your team cares that you’re gone. They have probably already replaced you. Wouldn’t you want to leave here and prove to them how powerful you are? How in control you are?” Lotor says. That message dug deep. Lance wanted to cry but he wouldn’t, not in front of him.

“Look you may be right. They don’t care about me, but I don’t want to be more than them. They are better than me, so it’s probably better if they replace me. You aren’t going to get me to spill,” lance says. Lotor seems surprised, before he smirks.

“If you wont give me the information, then the druids are going to take it out of you,” lotor says before snapping his fingers. Two guards rush into the room and grab lance. Fear graces his face as they drag him out of the cell towards the witches. Lotor walks by them until lance is dropped by the druids.

“Make sure not to hurt him too much. I want to have some fun with my little toy,” lotor spits before lance gets knocked out, absolute terror etched on his face. Lotor smiles once again before leaving to his study.


	6. The past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter-  
> Really explicit homophobia   
> Violence 
> 
> Thats all see yall next Tuesday!

Hunk took in a deap breath. It felt wrong to tell lance’s story to the team, but they deserved to know. Hunk was going to tell them eventually, he wanted the best for his friend. He didn’t want him to get hurt. So of course hunk is telling them now, when its too late. Hunk tried not to cry again. seeing the entire team looking at him in anticipation made him anxious. What would lance say, hunk thought. Lance would tell him to rip of the bandaid, so thats what he did.

“So lance and I have known each other since forever. Lance moved to the states when he was 8 to escape cuba. From what I understand, he lost quite a bit of his family on the way over from cuba. It was rough for him, being so young and fleeing to a country where not many people speak the same language as you, where there is no job security, no money. But lance tried to stay positive,” hunk explained. The group was staring at him intensely, urging him to continue.

“Lance and i met when he moved in next door. We were both 10 at the time. Lance didn’t have much, but he was always happy. Some times we would sneak out at night and stare up in to space. He would go on for hours about how much he loved space and the stars and how he wanted to be a pilot. Lance was always looking for an adventure,” hunk says, smiling at the memory.

“Everything started going down hill when he turned 13. His parents were working full time as well as his older brothers. Lance’s aunt was made to take care of him and his sister that summer. Lance was trying to figure himself out, as every 13 year old does. So he met a boy named nate and they kissed in the booth of the pizzeria down the street from my house. Everything was fine until the next day. Nate had called lance’s house to ask him on a date. Nate had assumed lance was out to his family but he wasn’t. A-and t-th-then,” hunk was crying again. This memory hurt to much. He looked up to find shiro patting him on the back.

“Hunk, we’re here for you. I know this must be rough, but I think everyone in here really needs to know.” Shiro said in his dad voice. Hunk pulled himself together and put on a strong face.

“O-ok, so after nate called, lance’s aunt went insane. I don’t know exactly what happened, but i do know that lance showed up to my house at midnight with nothing but a pair of boxers on. He had bruises all over his body, his right eye was swollen shut, and he was bleeding from a wound on his back. That was the first time I ever saw lance cry.” Hunk says. He was crying hard, so was everyone else. Pidge had no idea what lance had been through, but she should have known. She should have realized. Allura and coran were sad as well as confused, so allura decided to ask.

“Why would lance get attacked for kissing someone?” She asked. The group turned to look at her, startled by her voice.

“Well on earth there are some people who hate people who like the opposite sex. Those people are mean individuals,” shiro explained.

“Why would someone hate love?” She asks. Shiro shrugs, he didn’t get it either. The room was absolutely silent. Hunk interrupted that silence.

“Lance never told me what happened that night, and I don’t think he’ll ever tell anyone. He didn’t even tell his parents. He was afraid of the law. He was afraid of having to tell his parents about what happened out of fear that they would react the same way. So for the rest of the summer his aunt came, and almost every day lance came and slept on my couch, the wounds getting worse as time went on,” Hunk said. He was out of tears to cry. The team looked heartbroken.

“But things got better a bit. He turned 14 and got a job. He didn’t have to be with his aunt anymore. He worked at the pizzeria, and thats where he found out about the garrison. He ran to my house that afternoon and begged me to take the test with him. He was so happy about getting to see the stars that I couldn’t say no. Over the next month lance worked 18 hour days at the pizzeria just to get enough money to take the test. Then we took the test and we both got in. Lance was super happy. The excitement buzzed of him like we was going to explode. It was the happiest ive ever seen him. Not only did lance get in, but he got in on scholarship. His family and mine held a huge party. It was awesome,” hunk paused. The good memories swallowing him like a sickly sweet syrup. With the memories came the reminder that lance wasn’t there, and that was hard. His thoughts were interrupted by pidge.

“Uh no offense, but lance was never a good student at the garrison. How did he get in on scholarship?” Pidge asked.

“Well. When lance joined the garrison, he was still pressured to provide at home. I know that most of you remember how lance was always sleeping in class, right?” The team nodded.

“He slept in class because every night he snuck out of the garrison and went and worked. And let me tell you those jobs were horrible.” Hunk said. Kieth was surprised. He thought lance just didn’t care about school. There was a lot about lance he didn’t know.

“What kind of horrible jobs?” Allura asked. Hunk stared at her with a look that could only be read as ‘oh dear god.’

“Well, uh, well lance really wanted to make good money for his family, so lance found something that he was good at and tried to make money from it. I mean lance is tall and handsome so he easily passed as someone much older, and he was really good at dancing and uh...”

“Wait wait wait. Are you telling me that the boy I think of as a brother was a fucking stripper?!?” Pidge yells.

“Language.” Shiro says. Kieth was blushing and allura was confused, hunk was embarrassed. It was chaos. Absolute chaos.

———  
Far away lance was dying. The druids were picking his brain, literally. The were trying to get info on Voltron, but there was no way in hell he was doing that to them. Instead of talking he sang, sang the all the Disney song he knew. Which, with a younger sister, many little cousins and his nephew combined, was a hell of a lot of Disney songs. With every song there was a shock, it was horrible but he didn’t give up. He told himself that he wasn’t allowed to, so many others had it worse. He wasn’t dying, he wasn’t fighting for his life, and yes he couldn’t feel his legs, but they were still there. After what must have been an hour, or maybe a day, lance didn’t know, the druids got tired. He quietly thanked every god he knew, until lotor showed up.

“So did you have fun with my friends?” Lotor smirked. Lance spat out blood in his direction.

“Of course you did! You want to have more fun? How about i ask your friends what you should do next!” Lotor said grabbing lance’s face. Lance would have shook his head if he could. In a flash lance was unchained for where the druids had put him. If lance had any energy, he would have fought him, but lance couldn’t. He hated feeling this useless. In moments lotor was dragging him down a hall, towards what he assumed was the command center. Lotor dragged him through the doors and was dropped on the ground unceremoniously.

“Be more careful with the merchandise Mr.McLoser.” Lance mumbles out. He needed a drink to deal with this nonsense.

“Hmmm. No! Now let me place a call to your little friends. I think they are just dying to see you!” Lotor mocks. If lance could stand he would kick the shit out of him, and he was ready to voice this.

“If I could, I would kick the shit out of you.” Lance says. He instantly regrets it when lotor strides over and grabs him from the throat.

“Hasn’t anyone told you that you are spectacularly annoying.” Lotor says, “in other news my little call has gone through.”

Lance, while still trying to fight against lotor’s grip, looked over to the side to see the horrified faces of his teammates.

“Oh hey guys...”


	7. The pits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope yall enjoy this chapter! I might not be able to update again for a bit b/c im going on vacation but i love yall!
> 
> Mentions of violence and anxiety attacks.

Pidge was still screaming when the call came through. A small blip in the corner of the screen expanded, revealing the situation. Lotor was standing in front of the screen, looking very annoyed with something to his left.

“-kick the shit out of you,” a voice says. Lance’s voice. Lotor tears away from the controls an moves to his left. Her eyes fallow him as he picks up something, no someone. Lance was completely unrecognizable under the blood and burn marks. It was distressing to say the least.

“Hasn’t anyone told you that you’re spectacularly annoying?” Lotor says, squeezing lance’s throat tighter. Lance lets out a strangled cough. Lotor speaks again “in other news, my little call went through.” Lance, while still fighting lotor’s grip looks over to the screen. The look of shock on his face is replaced by a clearly fake smile that looks more like a grimace.

“Oh hey guys...” lance wheezes before lotor drops him. He hit the ground with a thud and a gasp escapes from his mouth. It was painful to watch, but pidge couldn’t tear her eyes away. The entire team sat in frozen shock, unable to even speak. Lance was alive, injured badly but alive.

Shiro, the only one with his head screwed on slightly straight, begins to speak.

“What do you want lotor?” Shiro spits at the camera. Lotor smirks, never a good sign.

“Well former champion, I've come to offer you a deal,” lotor says clasping his hands together in true villain style.

“Jesus dude did you go to ‘how to villain’ school or something? You are really hitting all the tropes.” Lance quips from the corner of the screen. Pidge would have laughed had the situation not been so dire.

“Shut up little blue, or ill have to punish you later,” lotor hisses. Lance shuts up.

“What is your deal lotor?” Shiro says through gritted teeth. He is trying hard to keep his composure.

“I will give lance his freedom-“ the group gasps in anticipation “- but he must earn it. You get to decide where your precious little blue must go. To the arena or the pits. You have 2 minutes to decide.”

At the mention of the arena shiro shivers, memories jump at him violently. He grasps he head in his hands, vaguely noticing an arm on his shoulder. It’s Kieth.

“He cant go. He can’t go, not there.” Shiro gasps. Kieth glares at the screen. First lotor steals the man he is in love with then he causes his brother to have a panic attack. He was pissed. He was in no place to answer, so allura did.

“We have seen what the arena does. We wish for lance to go to the pits.” She grits out. Lotor smirks. With a snap of his fingers two guards appear and they drag lance up to the screen.

“Did you hear that little blue? Your so called friends chose to send you to the pits. In the pits you can be bought and sold by anyone who wants to, and it would be a great mistake to rebell against your masters. I hope you have fun.” Lotor says as Lances, and the rest of the paladins, eyes widen in terror. Before he can say a word lance is dragged away from the screen and down a long hallway. He can vaguely hear the call ending as tears well up on his face.

———

“Fuck, what have we done” hunk curses, horror on his face.

Keith was standing in shock.

Allura wanted to cry. This was her fault. She made the decision. She couldn’t help but blame herself.

Shiro was still shaking.

Pidge was furiously typing.

“Guys I think i have something.” She said but no one was listening. The only thought that cut through the air was ‘oh god lance were sorry.’

———

Lance’s first night in the pit was eventful to say the least. After he was taken away from lotor the guards dragged him to a cell filled with other prisoners. These prisoners were different than most, tall and pretty but the look in their eyes told him that the behind the scenes of this wasn’t. Lance tried to swallow his nerves.

“Well look what we have here?” A voice chimed. Lance spun around in fighting stance, looking for the source of the voice. An alien stood not far from him, tall with pink skin and purple hair that went down to its waist.

“W-what do you want?” Lance asked, his nerves betraying him. The alien placed a sickening smirk on its face.

“Oh hun, im only here to thank you. With fresh blood like you here some of us get saved.” The alien chimes, a few other aliens laugh. Lance gulps again, but does nothing.

“Wow no reaction. You aren’t nervous?” Another alien says.

“Im a paladin of Voltron. Chances are that these galra will tear me apart, but hey at least im saving someone else from the same fate.” Lance grits out. Why does he just unload on people when he is nervous. Stupid lance.

“Do you think their gonna save you?” An alien asks, breaking lance out of his thoughts. The alien was young, it made lance feel sick.

“Uh,” lance didn’t want to disappoint them by saying no, even though they probably wouldn’t save him. “If they can track the ship im sure they’ll save me. They might save all of us.”

Why does he keep lying to himself.

**Author's Note:**

> This will be updated every Tuesday! See yall then!


End file.
